Page 96 of Outlaw Heartstrings
“Alba,” I whisper, crouching down on the floor next to her. “Tiny Tiger, are you okay?”
When she barely stirs, I lean in, pressing the back of my hand against her forehead. After a moment, her eyes flicker open. It takes a while before her gaze focuses.
“Easton? What are you doing here?” She groggily tries to sit up.
“I called him, Mimi.”
Alba turns, looking surprised to find Jagger there in bed with her. “Oh, thanks for looking out for me, baby.” She weakly brushes his messy hair from his forehead. Then her eyes turn back toward me and she tries to fix her own wild curls. “But I’m fine. Really. You shouldn’t have come all the way over here.”
“Alba…” I start.
“Really. I’m not even sick. I’m just tired,” she argues, clearly trying to downplay whatever she’s going through. Her bloodshot eyes dart toward the clock. “Shoot. In fact, I need to get my butt out of bed. I have to get to work. I have a cleaning shift starting in half an hour.”
She whips back the covers and leaves Jagger in bed, stumbling into the bathroom. The child looks at me with worry on his face.
“Everything’s good, buddy,” I say. “I’m just going to check on her. Why don’t you put on one of your shows?”
Jagger nods and reaches over to grab the remote off the nightstand.
Then I follow Alba inside the bathroom and shut the door behind me. It’s cramped in the small space, and I approach her from behind, wrapping my arms around her waist as she splashes water on her face.
Alba turns the faucet off and tries to pull away from me.
“Hey. Hey, it’s just me,” I console her softly. “I want to help. Let me help?”
She tiredly leans against the sink, breathing out a heavy sigh. “I’m having second thoughts about this wishlist thing.”
My eyebrows pull into a frown. I wasn’t expecting that. We both had fun last night, didn’t we?
“What? Why?”I wait while she leans down and splashes more water on her face.
When she starts talking again, she refuses to meet my eyes. “Because it’s distracting me from what’s important.”
I spin her around, cupping her chin. “Tell me what’s going on, baby?”
Baby…
Fuck. That just spilled out. But Alba doesn’t react to the unexpected pet name, so neither do I.
Her big, green eyes well up with unshed tears. “I failed my realtor test for the second time, and I have to retake it,” she confesses hoarsely.
A tear falls.
Then another.
And I struggle to figure out what to say.
She yanks roughly on her hair. “It’s just…my realtor license is my key to finally being able to get out of my shitty financial situation and make a life for me and Mom and Jagger. But here I am, wasting time by playing around with the guy who got my sister pregnant nine years ago. What the hell is wrong with me?!”
When she says that, it stings. But why should it? She’s right. Iamthe father of her sister’s kid.
I just thought she saw me as more than that by now. I’m not exactly sure how to label this thing between us. But it feels like…more.
Alba tries to keep speaking, but she’s barely able to getthe words out. Tears are streaming down her pale face and she’s having a hard time catching her breath. As she melts down, I’m there, wrapping her in my arms.
“I’ve got you, Tiny Tiger. I’ve got you,” I say, trying to comfort her as I hold her tight.“You’re just too hard on yourself, babe.”
Within seconds, Alba is already squirming out of the hug and wiping at her wet eyes. “I need to get dressed,” she murmurs.
